Sidelined
by Katiemonz
Summary: Sonic has had nightmares before. With all the near-death situations he's been in, it's amazing he doesn't have more. But why was this one so different? One-shot. Happy 23rd Birthday Sonic!


**Notes: **Hey guys! I wrote this a few weeks ago when I couldn't sleep (hence the unoriginal premise for this one-shot) and I liked it enough to decide to post it. Plus, it's Sonic's 23rd, and I had to post _something._ Enjoy!

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Floorboards creaking. TV on, albeit at a low volume. Lack of snoring from the room next door. Subtle differences in the nighttime atmosphere of the workshop, but significant ones nonetheless. The lack of snoring wasn't anything new; one of the small house's residents was often away for stretches at a time, so the second bedroom was accustomed to vacancy. Even when he was home, it wasn't uncommon for him to sleep on the roof if the weather was nice. But the emptiness of the hero's room accompanied by the sounds of someone awake downstairs were enough to tip the gentle equilibrium of sounds off balance.

Tails slowly awoke, his ear twitching. His eyes remained closed, and he didn't move from his curled up position. He hadn't even realized he was conscious yet.

The low rumble of the television downstairs was enough to nudge him awake. '_Why is the TV on…?'_ he thought sleepily. '_It wasn't on when I went to bed, and Sonic fell asleep first...'_ At least, Tails thought he did. He slowly pried his eyes open and rolled onto his back. He supposed he would have to go downstairs and turn the thing off. He looked sideways at his alarm clock, the lit screen burning his eyes. He held up a hand to shield the light. It was almost 3:30 in the morning. He grumbled unhappily. And he had been having such a nice dream, too… It was a shame it had to be discontinued for something like this.

The fox shoved the blankets off of him and pulled himself up into a sitting position. He yawned and turned, placing his bare feet on the worn wooden floor. He stood up and shuffled towards the door, entering out into the hallway.

The sounds from the TV were clearer now, and Tails was faintly able to make out the Power Rangers theme song drifting up from downstairs. He descended the steps, falling and catching himself more than actually walking. He rubbed his eyes, still stuck closed with sleep, and entered the living room.

He blinked at what he saw. The TV hadn't been left unattended- it was being actively watched. Sonic was sitting on the couch, blanket wrapped around his shoulders, red-eyed, watching Power Ranger reruns at 3:30 in the morning. Something wasn't right.

"Sonic?" Tails said, his voice strained and airy as he let off a yawn. "What are you doing up?"

"Hey, bud," the hedgehog grinned. His voice was chipper as ever, and sounded for all the world like nothing was wrong. A coping mechanism, Tails recognized. Sonic had a habit of hiding how he really felt about certain situations, especially bad ones. Always covering up with a smile. He picked up the remote control and lowered the volume on the TV. "I couldn't sleep, so I figured watching something was better than just staring up at the ceiling. Sorry, did this thing wake you up?"

"Nah," Tails fibbed, "just thought I heard someone walking around down here. Guess it was you."

"Guess so. Why don't you go back up and get some more sleep? It's still stupid early," the blue one suggested, his eyes following the stairs upwards. The fox shrugged walked over to the couch instead, sitting down cross-legged right next to his brother.

"Why can't you sleep?" he asked bluntly, looking at the TV. The Power Rangers had just summoned their Zords and were getting ready to take down a giant monster that was threatening the city.

"Had a bad dream, that's all," Sonic admitted simply. He tugged his blanket slightly tighter around himself on instinct. The movement was subtle, so much so that he didn't even notice he was doing it.

"You want to talk about it?" Tails suggested, his eyes focused on the TV. He knew how to deal with Sonic whenever he had a problem, and that was to just treat it like it was nothing. Treat it like something insignificant, just average small talk. Don't ask about the details, or he'll close himself off. Don't force him to talk or admit to anything. Sonic liked to deal with things on his own; Tails just had to be there for him in case he needed it.

The speedster shrugged noncommittally. He looked at the television, watching the fight quietly go down between the Rangers and whatever villain they were fighting. It had seemed like he wouldn't say anything, but he opened his mouth after a few moments. "I'unno, it's just…" He licked his lips, trying to figure out what he wanted to say. "You and Amy and Knuckles and the others were all killed in a battle with Eggman, and I couldn't stop it." He didn't delve any deeper into it. He just pulled his socked feet up and dropped them onto the coffee table, giving the appearance of being totally relaxed. Like absolutely nothing was wrong.

Tails frowned. As casual as Sonic was acting about it, this dream seemed to have really bothered him- probably even scared him. The hedgehog's nightmares were actually not uncommon; being in near-death situations all the time will do that to a guy. He tried to hide them as best he could, even going so far as denying that he ever had them. But Tails knew when he heard a sharp gasp coming from the bedroom adjacent to his, his best friend would be looking a little less well-rested come the morning. And that's usually all it was. A sudden waking in the middle of the night, perhaps getting up to get a glass of water or reading for a little while until he passed out again. When the kit did manage to wrestle some information out of his older brother, he discovered the bad dreams were mostly just about drowning or getting caught in an explosion. Maybe once or twice, Sonic had a nightmare about somehow losing his speed. But this was the first bad dream that had kept the hedgehog awake, and made him want to _stay_ awake.

The fox scooted closer to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Under the blankets, Sonic was surprisingly tense. "We're all safe," the kit reassured him. "We're all okay."

For some reason, hearing those simple words was enough to calm the hedgehog down, to convince him that the dream hadn't been real. He unstiffened and allowed himself to sink back into the sofa. His head drooped to the side until it was resting comfortably on Tails' shoulder. "Thanks," he said softly, Tails nodding slowly in response.

They stayed sitting like that, Sonic with his feet on the table and his head on his kid brother's shoulder, for quite a while. '_It's usually me who needs to be comforted after a bad dream,'_ Tails remarked silently. '_Sonic's dream, though… He dreamed that he couldn't save us. Does that scare him that much?'_ He supposed it made sense. Sonic was always saving people, protecting whoever he could. If he couldn't protect the ones closest to him… If he wasn't able to do anything… There was no doubt that the hedgehog would immediately blame himself, even if it wasn't his fault. He was an action-oriented guy. Finding himself somehow useless was probably extremely frightening for him.

Tails slowly came to realize just how much weight Sonic held on his shoulders. More than one person could ever hope to hold, and if he ever dropped any of it, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. It just wasn't in his nature.

'_But I'll help you carry it,'_ the kit thought, '_and I'll protect you even when you can't. 'Cause that's what bros do.'_

Eventually, he felt his eyelids starting to droop, and the sleep that had been interrupted was starting to return. He tried to stay awake- he knew that if he fell asleep before Sonic did, the hog would carry him back up to his bed. He wanted to be there for his friend, he wanted to be awake with him if he was scared. But the lull of sleep was inevitable.

Luckily, he felt Sonic's breathing slow, and the hedgehog let his entire weight sink into the fox. He was asleep, gently dreaming again. He was safe, he was home, and everyone was okay. With a mix of relief and satisfaction, Tails allowed himself to drift off as well, content with being the older brother just this once.

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**Notes: **Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review if you liked it, it would really mean a lot to me! Happy 23rd birthday big blue!

To those of you following my story Time Warp, sorry it hasn't updated yet! I don't know if I'll update this month at all, I just graduated high school (!) and things are pretty hectic right now. Plus, I really want the next chapter to be awesome. Sorry about the holdup on that, but I'll try and work on TW as soon as possible. Thanks!


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